HMS Broadsword (F88)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Broadsword.

HMS Broadsword in Portsmouth Harbour, 1982
History
Vereinigtes Königreich
Name	HMS Broadsword
Operator	Royal Navy
Builder	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down	7 February 1975
Launched	12 May 1976
Commissioned	4 May 1979
Decommissioned	31 March 1995
Homeport	HMNB Devonport
Identification	Pennant number: F88
Fate	Sold to Brazil 30 June 1995
Brasilien
Name	Greenhalgh
Operator	Brazilian Navy
Identification	MMSI number: 710405000 Callsign: PWGH Pennant number: F46
Status	Decommissioned 10 August 2021
General characteristics
Class and type	Type 22 frigate
Displacement	4,400 tons
Length	131.2 m (430 ft)
Beam	14.8 m (48 ft)
Draught	6.1 m (20 ft)
Propulsion	2 shafts, COGOG 2 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B boost gas turbines (54,600 shp) 2 × Rolls-Royce Tyne RM1C cruise gas turbines (9,700 shp)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h) cruise 30 knots (56 km/h) top speed
Complement	222
Armament	2 × 2x torpedo tubes for Mk-46 torpedoes 2 ×6 GWS25 Seawolf SAM launchers 4 × 1 Exocet SSM launchers 2 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Aircraft carried	1 × Lynx MK 8 helicopters

HMS Broadsword was the lead ship and first Batch 1 unit of the Type 22 frigates of the Royal Navy.

Bauwesen

Broadsword was ordered from Yarrow Shipbuilders on 8 February 1974 and was laid down at Yarrow's Scotstoun shipyard on 7 February 1975. She was launched on 12 May 1976 and commissioned on 3 May 1979.

Royal Navy service

While on sea trials, Broadsword was called into service as the command ship during the large rescue operation required after storms struck the 1979 Fastnet race.

Broadsword in formation with HMS Hermes in 1982

Broadsword took part in the 1982 Falklands War where, on 25 May 1982, she was providing air defence support to HMS Coventry. A technical fault in her Sea Wolf missile system allowed two Argentine Skyhawks to sink the Coventry. Broadsword was hit by one bomb, which bounced up through the helicopter deck and put out of action a Lynx helicopter, before exiting and exploding harmlessly. She subsequently rescued 170 of the sunken Coventry's crew. She shot down one IAI Dagger of FAA Grupo 6 and shared an A-4C Skyhawk kill with HMS Antelope's Sea Cat, land-based Rapiers and Blowpipe SAMs.

Captain G W R Biggs commanded Broadsword between 10 April 1985 and 15 May 1986 and Commander M W G Kerr who commanded between 27 July 1988 and 18 May 1990 both subsequently became flag officers.

In 1993 Broadsword took part in the naval operation in support of Operation Grapple (Yugoslavia), in the Adriatic Sea. Upon completion on 8 July 1993, a fire broke out in the aft auxiliary machinery room. This resulted in the deaths of two on-watch engineers; LMEM(M) Mark Hunter, age 30, and MEM(M) Roy Ware, age 22.

By July 1994, HMS Broadsword would be serving as the West Indies Guard Ship until she would return to the United Kingdom in March 1995 for decommissioning.

Brazilian service

In November 1994, HMS Broadsword was sold to Brazil for £116,000,000. She was official decommissioned from Royal Navy service on 31 March 1995 and was sold to the Brazilian Navy on 30 June 1995 and renamed Greenhalgh.

On the 10th August 2021, HMS Broadsword was decommissioned from Brazilian service.

Publications

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Prézelin, Bernard; Baker III, A.D., eds. (1991). The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1990/1991. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-250-8.

External links

• Broadsword Association
• Broadsword photos